


Domestic - A Zutara Dadko Ficlet

by Konggodzuko



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Dadko, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Firelady Katara, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Fluff, Gen, Katara and Zuko (Avatar) are Parents, Parental Zuko, Zuko (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Zuko really tries to do as much parenting as possible, breastfeeding mention, brief mention of Katara's breasts but it's so unsexulized I can't justify a rating bump, he really dislikes the idea of not being involved in his kids lives, so he takes as much responsibility as he can, tired parents Zutara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25455244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Konggodzuko/pseuds/Konggodzuko
Summary: Zuko wakes up to tend to his newest child. Feeling paternal, he ends up checking in on his other two.Katara, meanwhile, enjoys some sleep.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & His Kids
Comments: 13
Kudos: 251





	Domestic - A Zutara Dadko Ficlet

As had happened every night for the last month, a wailing cry woke Zuko and Katara up at around midnight.

Already rolling out of bed, Zuko said, “I’ll get him,” the words were nearly automatic at this point.

Katara nodded blearily, pulling herself into an upright position and pulling off her shirt before closing her eyes and resting her head on the headboard.

Zuko rubbed a hand over his face and moved his chi around his body, waking himself up a bit. He shuffled over to the crib in the corner of the room. Inside was a tiny, squirming body; the newest addition to Zuko and Katara’s growing family, Kiviuq.

Zuko reached in and picked up the tiny, screaming boy, “Come on, it’s okay, shh shh shh, we’re going to go see Mommy, don’t worry.”

He brought the baby over to his wife, who held out her hands without opening her eyes, and Zuko handed Kiviuq over. She brought their child to her breast and the cries quickly vanished.

“He gets so mad,” Zuko said, chuckling, “His face goes all,” he screwed up his face to imitate his son and then laughed a bit more, “reminds me of you.”

Katara cracked an eye open, “Says the grown man who threatened to throw a nobleman off the roof.”

“I don’t remember you objecting, it was worth it to get him to the table with the unions.”

Katara hummed, then closed her eyes again. A few minutes passed in peaceful quiet, before Kiviuq pulled away, “Oh,” Katara said, startling from a doze she had begun to fall into, “Mmph, Zuko, c’mere, your son is done.”

Zuko swept in and collected the baby, and Katara forewent putting a shirt back on and instead settled back down into bed.

The father grabbed a rag from his bedside table and threw it over his shoulder and adjusted Kiviuq so his head rested on the rag. Zuko began strolling around the room, humming random songs under his breath and firmly patting the baby’s back.

After a few minutes of doing this, Kiviuq squirmed, let out a small burp, then snuggled into Zuko’s shoulder.

Kiviuq may have been his third kid, but things like that still made his heart burst with love and happiness.

He looked down, hoping to see his son asleep, but instead was met with big blue eyes gazing at him. Zuko smiled, and nuzzled his son’s nose with his own, muttered “Go to sleep, pup,” and then kissed his son’s head. He began to walk around the room again, this time swaying slightly to rock the baby.

After several long, long, long minutes, he looked down to see Kiviuq thoroughly passed out. Zuko smiled again and ambled over to the crib, where he gently lifted his son off of his shoulder and, after a quick peck on the head, lowered the baby onto the mattress.

His fingers grazed his son’s plentiful yet wispy hair. All three of his children had been born with full heads of hair, it was his favorite thing about them. Well, everything about his kids was his favorite thing about them. They each looked so different from one another, yet each so beautifully combined him and Katara.

Overcome with an urge to see his older children, Zuko glanced over to Katara to see her snoring slightly, and nodded to himself before ghosting over to their door and leaving.

He went down the hall to just a door over and cracked it open to look in on his middle child; five-year-old Haruki. The boy was curled up in his bed, sleeping soundly. It was a trait both he and his older sister had since they were infants, one that Kiviuq did not. Considering that both older children were firebenders, Katara hoped that meant he would be a waterbender.

Haruki was blue-eyed like his younger brother, but the color was more green-hued, his hair as dark as his father’s while his skin was a touch paler than either of his siblings. He was a very cheerful child, but preferred to do quiet activities like draw or play with blocks.

Zuko smiled as he gazed at his son, then closed the door and moved on to his oldest’s room.

He opened the door to see a dim light go out and sheets settling into place.

He tsked, “Kya.”

Kya, nine years old, lifted her head from her pillow and looked at him with big gold eyes, “Sorry, dad.”

Zuko huffed and walked inside. He crouched by her bed, “What have Mom and I told you, sweetheart? You can’t read until all hours, you’re a firebender, you need your sleep.”

“Sorry, I just… lost track of time. It’s a really good book! Really!”

Zuko held out a hand, and Kya fished under her pillow before pulling out a book and sadly handing it over. Zuko took it in one hand and lit a small fire in the other, “Hero from the Dark?” He rubbed the cover of the book with nostalgia, “You’re right, this is a good book.”

“You know it?”

“This is, well, was my copy. You found it in the private library, right?”

Kya nodded.

Zuko gave his daughter an appraising glance, then said, “Where were you?”

“Huh?”

“In the book, what part were you on?”

“Um… page uh, thirty-something. The Spirit just saw the Painted Lady for the first time.”

Zuko motioned for Kya to move over, then he got to his feet and sat on the bed, “Now, if you want, I’ll read—” he discreetly checked the book, “the rest of the chapter and the next one, but you have to promise you’ll try to go to sleep, and that you’ll stop with the late nights, okay?”

Kya’s eyes sparkled in delight but she nodded.

“Okay, so…” Zuko searched for a good spot, then started to read, “‘The Spirit was awed in a way he never knew he could be. Scared in a way he never realized he could enjoy. The way this fellow spirit, this woman of the river, had so quickly defeated the band of murders the Spirit had been tracking set his blood afire. He grasped the hilt of his dao, and moved in, excited for the fight of a lifetime…”

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a little thing I cooked up to (hopefully) get myself back into the fanfic game. Zuko being a good dad is a concept I love to pieces and I really can't get enough content of it, so I decided to make some more myself.  
> Kiviuq (name of an Inuit culture hero, apparently according to wikipedia) being possibly a waterbender due to his sleep patterns is just an extrapolation from canon; firebenders are energized by the sun, while waterbenders by the moon. So I headcanon that baby firebenders have a hard time being put down for naps but once the sun sets they'll practically pass out until it rises. Meanwhile baby waterbenders never sleep through the night because the moon's beaming them full of energy.  
> Hero From the Dark is supposed to be a novel about the Blue Spirit from Love Amongst the Dragons (I have a ton of issues with The Promise but Zuko's alternate identity being taken from a play he and his mother loved IS great) focusing on a romance between him and the Painted Lady. Cause I'm a big lover of PaintedBlue content as well as baseline Zutara.  
> Oh, and I absolutely HC that there would be a big labor movement post-war in the Fire Nation (tends to happen in industrialized nations) and that Zuko and Katara would support the heck out of it. But really, I can go on about my leftist Firelord Zuko headcanons for pages (hint: he finishes his reign with the abolition of the monarchy) but I won't go too much on about that. This is a fluff piece after all.


End file.
